Assignment task:
Review and complete the Real-World Case Study in the 13.4 Chapter Exercises. In this activity, you will evaluate theories for their advantages and disadvantages in addressing the specific case. As the case completes, consider how the changes at the company may drive the need for a different theory than the one used previously.
Mcdaniel's Burger Restaurant is a family-owned restaurant located in a small town in Texas. The family has had the restaurant for three generations. People come from far and wide to eat at the restaurant because McDaniel's takes pride in cooking each burger to the customer's wants and needs. The restaurant prides itself in having the most selections for meat and vegetarian burgers. In addition, they carry a wide variety of toppings, such as ordinary toppings like tomatoes, bacon, cheese, onions, and lettuce, but also unique toppings like cucumbers, salsa, salad dressing, pineapple, and sprouts. Customers can decide how they would like their burger cooked: grilled or fried. Everyone in town loves McDaniel's Burgers because they are personalized and delicious. Lately, the business has been increasing because the population has increased. The McDaniel family can no longer keep up with the demand and decided to sell their business to a bigger firm, Burger Business. Burger Business has many establishments and is used to catering to large crowds. Burger Business executives liked McDaniel's Burgers but felt that the restaurant was not very efficient, because customers would have to wait a long time before their order was completed. Over time, the executives and consultants of Burger Business felt that they needed to have five different stations. The first station was for meat selection. For instance, the customer can choose from beef, bison, elk, chicken, or veggie patty. The second station was for meat preparation. The customer can choose if they want their meat fried or grilled and to what degree. The third station was for toppings. An attendant would help the customer with the toppings for their burger. The fourth station was the sidebar, where customers could choose drinks and sides such as French fries. The last station was the cashier, where customers would pay for their meals. Most of the employees of McDaniel's Burgers were already trained in all areas of operations. Hence they could work in any station and in any order. The Burger Business executives felt that this would help with employee satisfaction because they could work in a variety of stations and they could have more flexibility. However, over time, the profits for McDaniel's Burgers were not very high. Moreover, employee retention was at an all-time low. However, executives felt they could replace workers because the task was so simple. In addition, several customers no longer liked dining in the restaurant as in the past. More customers were requesting to take their orders home. The executives were confused because they felt they had made productive and efficient changes. Initially, the executives felt that the reason customers felt negative about the business was that certain stations tended to have longer lines, such as the toppings and sides bar. Hence they divided the toppings stations into original toppings and unique toppings. They also divided the sides bar into fries and drinks. The executives also decided to get rid of toppings that customers rarely ordered, such as anchovies and sauerkraut. Overall, the executives were happy with the changes they made and felt that they could open more McDaniel's Burgers in other locations.
Questions:
Q1. In the end, Burger Business executives had a positive perspective of the future of McDaniel's Burgers. Do you agree? Why? What are some potential risks or pitfalls that the executives need to be cautious about? What could they do to motivate workers?
Q2. Can you identify some of the classical theories presented in this case study? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of these theories in this case study?
Q3. Let's pretend Burger Business hired you as a communication consultant for McDaniel's Burgers. What information would you collect? How will this information help you predict the future outcome of this business? What would you expect the findings to be? How would you use this information to make suggestions to the executives?
Q4. Pretend you are a customer of McDaniel's Burgers. How do you feel communication can be improved for the customers of McDaniel's Burgers? What would customers prefer or dislike about this establishment?
Q5. Pretend you are an employee of McDaniel's Burgers. How do you feel that communication can be improved? Why is there such a high employee turnover rate? How can executives help with the employee retention rate?